POLITICAL MEMO; Nomination Feud Redraws Battle Lines in Trenton

By RICHARD G. JONES

Published: June 16, 2007

Even considering the odd manner in which politics are played in New Jersey, where feuding party colleagues shut down state government and Senate candidates avoid unpopular vice presidents, this week's dispute over Gov. Jon S. Corzine's nominee for chief justice of the State Supreme Court was especially curious.

The nominee, State Attorney General Stuart J. Rabner, is a highly regarded former federal prosecutor whose selection by Governor Corzine had been well received by Democrats and Republicans alike.

That is until State Senator Nia H. Gill, a Democrat from Essex County who has skirmished with her own party, told legislative colleagues that she planned to delay the confirmation hearings for Mr. Rabner using an arcane tradition called ''senatorial courtesy,'' which allows senators to block the nomination of any resident from their home county. Mr. Rabner lives in Caldwell.

What followed was an unusual chain of events in which Ms. Gill aggressively declined to explain her objections to the nomination -- or even confirm that she had them. At one particularly bizarre moment on Thursday, she threatened to have the police remove reporters from the State House chamber where she led the Senate's Commerce Committee.

While no one doubts that Mr. Rabner will be confirmed by the full Senate -- a hearing set for Monday has now been postponed to Thursday -- Senator Gill's dug-in heels betray a general unease with Mr. Corzine.

The governor, a Master of the Universe by way of Goldman Sachs who, despite his Midwestern roots and avuncular sweater vests, is regarded by many lawmakers as an aloof chief executive who wants the Legislature simply to rubber-stamp his proposals.

''Under this governor, things are done without any discussion,'' Senator Ronald L. Rice, another Democrat from Essex County, said Wednesday. Until Mr. Corzine invited him to the governor's mansion on Thursday, he also said he intended to block Mr. Rabner's nomination.

But after meeting with Mr. Corzine, Mr. Rice withdrew his opposition.

And Ms. Gill left it to others to say what she really seemed to mean. Mr. Rice, who, like Senator Gill, is African-American, said they were concerned that not enough consideration was being given to minority candidates for the bench.

Other legislators spoke of a sense of detachment by the governor in dealing with them.

And in an unusual and oddly partisan attack, the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, who was Mr. Rabner's boss for a number of years, sharply criticized legislators and Mr. Corzine for not adequately defending Mr. Rabner.

All of these forces have conspired to disrupt what Mr. Corzine hoped would be a routine confirmation.

When speaking off the record, many lawmakers leave little doubt that they think Mr. Corzine tries to control the legislative process too much -- from confirmation hearings to budget passage.

''It seems that the front office, in nominating Stuart Rabner, did not reach out as thoroughly as they should have in order to make this the home run that the governor hoped for,'' said David P. Rebovich, director of the Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

While Ms. Gill has not said why she objects to the nomination of a man who nearly everyone else believes would make an able chief justice, one Democratic lawmaker who spoke only on the condition of anonymity said that Ms. Gill was concerned because Mr. Rabner, who is 46, has never served as a judge.

The lawmaker said that Senator Gill was also bothered because she felt that more minority candidates should have been considered for the seat.

''That's a valid concern,'' the lawmaker said. ''But I don't know if this is the way to raise that concern.''

For his part, Mr. Corzine has defended the process used to select Mr. Rabner. A spokesman for the governor said that eight state departments were led by minorities. The spokesman, Anthony Coley, also rejected the assertion that Mr. Corzine had not advocated vigorously enough for Mr. Rabner's nomination.

That apparently has not satisfied Mr. Christie, who, in a speech on Wednesday at a golf club in West Windsor, criticized the handling of Mr. Rabner's nomination.

''It's absolutely appalling, and I am angry, and you should be angry too,'' Mr. Christie said to members of the 200 Club, according to an account in The Star-Ledger. ''You should have had it up to your ears with the petty politics of Trenton, with the failure of the people that we elect to represent us.''

Mr. Coley deflected Mr. Christie's comments. ''No one feels more strongly that Attorney General Rabner should be chief justice than Jon Corzine,'' he said. ''No one is working harder or is more passionate about him being chief justice than Jon Corzine.''

Mr. Corzine, the first person in a half-century to hold New Jersey's governorship without previous experience in a state or local office, has frequently had to fend off criticism that he does not reach out to lawmakers as often as he should.

Senator Rice compared Mr. Corzine's approach with that of his predecessors.

''Governor Florio would call around, he listened to us -- even if we didn't always get what we wanted,'' Mr. Rice said. ''He'' -- Mr. Corzine -- ''doesn't call us.''

Shortly after making these comments, Mr. Rice was invited to Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton.

Regardless of the merits of Mr. Corzine's approach compared with those of other governors, Mr. Rebovich said that if nothing else, the events of the past week were an example of how much further Mr. Corzine has to go to fit in under the State House dome.